Bust a hip
by MarenMary93
Summary: Well, we've all been annoyed with Luca's absence for way too many episodes of season 3. And because I'm a bit too into H/C fics, I had to write the 're-injury' that was mentioned a few episodes ago. Because, duh... Anyway, Luca gets injured on the job.
1. Chapter 1

In hindsight he should've known the floor wasn't safe, but you know what they say. Hindsight is always 20-20.

And hindsight came quickly as well. About a quarter second after he stepped onto the rotted floorboards, causing him to go straight through them.

He came down hard in a heap on the concrete floor in the basement below. He knew instantly that something was wrong. Pain exploded from his left hip on impact, and he was left screaming from the top of his lungs.

"Luca!" Deacon called out.

Luca tried to answer, but his lungs and mouth wouldn't cooperate to form an answer.

"Luca, are you hurt?"

Luca nodded as he looked up at his teammate through the hole he had made in the floor.

"Where?"

Still not in control of his voice, Luca just motioned to his left hip.

"Can you walk?"

Luca shook his head, still groaning and clutched his waist above his hip.

"Broken?"

Luca shrugged, then nodded.

"Can you talk?"

Luca shook his head.

"Hurts too bad, or other reasons?"

Luca held up one finger.

"Hurts too bad?"

Luca nodded.

"Want me to call in an 'officer down'?"

Luca shook his head, tried to move, yelped, then nodded.

"This is 30-David, I'm calling in an officer down for 22-David."

"How is he?" Lynch asked over the coms.

"Fell through a rotted floor, injured his leg or hip. In much pain, can't walk or even move much, otherwise alert and oriented."

"Is his radio bust?" Hicks asked.

"No, he's in too much pain to talk just yet."

"Can you get to him?"

"I think I can." Deacon nodded to himself, "But I think I'll have to find the stairs first."

"Okay."

A few seconds later Street's voice came over the coms as well, "Guys, we have a major problem."

A second or so passed, before he continued, "I found some barrels, looks like there's some detonation device connected to it."

"Alright, everybody out!" Hicks commanded, "Watch your steps."

Deacon looked around, then placed his gun across the hole in the floor to create a beam he could swing down from. The rifle was long enough to stretch between the floor beams which seemed solid. Then he rolled through the open hole.

He had to aim to miss landing on Luca.

"Do you think you can hobble next to me if I support you?"

Luca let out a slow breath and shrugged, "Maybe… -If you help me up."

Deacon nodded and stepped behind Luca to hoist him up. "Good leg towards you butt."

Luca did as he was instructed, and they worked him into a standing position.

"How does that feel?"

Luca held onto Deacon's forearms crossed over his chest to steady himself, he blinked hard, trying to force the room to stay level, "Like imma pass out…"

Duncan nodded a bit.

"Dude, just leave me." Luca muttered as his working knee started slowly giving out, "You need to be there for Annie and the kids. Hick said everybody out."

"Yeah. He said EVERYBODY!" Deacon barked, before he swooped down and grasped Luca in a fireman's carry.

The sudden movement and quadrupling of pain caused Luca to black out.

"I need someone to find the basement door and clear a way for me." Deacon ordered.

"On it!" Chris informed, and soon enough the door to the door at the top of the stairs opened up. Then she slowly walked down the stairs, finding no tripwires or anything.

A then she stepped over to Deacon and Luca, "What happened, I thought you said he was alert and oriented…?"

"He passed out once he got upright." Deacon panted, "Can you walk behind me and make sure I don't go backwards down the stairs?"

"Sure thing."

"I'll be standing by the top of the stairs…" Tan informed over the radio, "Don't be alarmed."

"Thanks." Chris replied.

**SWATSWATSWAT**

"All accounted for?" Hicks asked after Hondo declared that they were outside.

"We're all outside, presumably safe distance. Deacon is laying Luca down right now."

"Ambulance is en route." Hicks noted, "How is he?"

"I'm going to take a look at him now." Hondo informed, "He's unconscious right now, but that might change quickly."

"Okay."

**SWATSWATSWAT**

"-He's coming through…" Chris' voice broke through the nothingness.

The dark was shifted out with a blurry version of blue sky and skyscrapers. He moaned, his leg hurt epically bad. He knew it had to be broken, not a chance of anything less.

"Hey buddy, how are you doing?" Hondo asked.

He blinked awake.

"How are you doing?"

"M'hip hurts…" he was not proud of the way his voice sounded like a broken whine.

"I know…" Chris' said as she placed a hand on his shoulder, anchoring him to the present. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Luca closed his eyes and scanned his body for pain, then he nodded, "My knee. Same leg. Not as bad."

"I'm going to touch your knee…" Deacon informed, waiting for him to give a slight nod.

He was pretty sure the whole block heard his scream as Deacon's hands jerked back from wrapping around the sides of his knee.

"Sorry, sorry-sorry-sorry!" Deacon apologized, "Did I hurt your knee or your hip?"

It took him eight solid seconds to be able to answer, "Hip. But the knee is pretty bad as well."

"Alright, I'm going to slice open your pant leg instead."

He nodded.

"Oh, that doesn't look all good." Deacon frowned.

"What is it?" he managed to bite out.

"Looks like your kneecap is vacationing on the side of your knee instead."

"-Oh…" he winced, "Again?"

"It's happened before?" Hondo asked.

"Couple of times." he answered, "When I was a teen and young adult. Thought it got all better with the years…"

"Alright," Hondo nodded, "We better just let it be like that until you're under the care of medical professionals."

"Yeah, I think that's the best idea. It's been decades since it's happened so…"

"Yeah, and setting it would cause you so much more pain from your hip." Deacon reasoned.

**SWATSWATSWAT**

"Hey, I'm Jennifer, what happened here?" the first paramedic asked as she wheeled the gurney close to where Luca was laying before she collapsed it.

"Yeah, I'm Luca. I fell through the floor." Luca answered, "Busted my hip and banged up my knee."

"-Dislocated his kneecap…" Deacon corrected.

"Owsa…" the paramedic frowned, "And your hip?"

"Think I broke that…" Luca admitted.

"Well, yup…" the paramedic nodded, "Your left leg looks shorter than the other, and I bet you're not tilting it outward on purpose…"

Luca nodded, "Yeah, no… I can't move it without screaming."

The paramedic nodded and sat down next to him, "Mind if I feel your wrist for a little while?"

Luca shook his head and raised his hand to her, "Nah, go ahead."

Jennifer found the pulse quickly, and noted that it was even and fairly strong, and the pace made her believe he would have a pulse at around 75. She would count it properly when they had gotten him inside the ambulance and she was ready to do the secondary exam. She acted like she counted it, but in reality she counted his respirations. Checking off the B on the ABCDE list.

15 respirations per minute, a little labored, but she could chalk that up to the obvious pain the man was in. "So, were you running around a lot right before this happened?"

"Yeah, we were entering that building the bomb squad is outside now." Deacon answered for Luca.

"Oh, yeah…" Jennifer nodded and casted a glance over to the end of the street, "Are we safe distance?"

"Should be…" Hondo nodded.

"Good." Jennifer nodded a little more at ease, then she returned her focus to Luca, "Okay, so you were pretty active."

"Yeah, so I'm probably all sweaty and nice now." Luca frowned, "Sorry…"

"Don't worry about it." Jennifer smirked, knowing that fellow blue-light workers often had the same dark twisted humor, "As long as our patients aren't actively decomposing, we're good."

Luca chuckled, then grimaced.

"Word of advice buddy, don't laugh…" Deacon said, bending down to pat Luca on his shoulder.

"Yeah, easy for you to say…" Luca muttered.

"I'm just going to check your capillary refill, do you know what that is?"

"Yeah, you press down on my forehead or my chest and check how long it takes before it turns normal skin color again." Luca nodded.

"Correct." Jennifer nodded and pulled down Luca's shirt collar a little, "Are you aware of any other injuries you have?"

"No."

"How does your spine and neck feel?"

"All good." Luca offered up a slight shrug.

"And your head? Do you know if you hit that in the fall?"

"No, I didn't hit my head."

"That's good." Jennifer nodded, but pulled a penlight from her pocket, "But I'm going to check your pupils anyway."

Luca nodded.

"How far did you fall?"

"Just one floor." Luca answered as she shone the light into his eyes, "Not really that far. Less than twice my height anyway."

"Okay, that's good." Jennifer smirked, "And your pupils are equal and reacting to light… So as sure as I don't find a massive bump in your head when I pat you down, you can go without a collar."

Luca nodded and Jennifer donned a pair of gloves and started to pat him down, starting with his head and working her way down his body, checking her gloves pretty often.

His head was fine, his neck was fine, his right arm was fine.

"Oh, you have a cut here…" she frowned, as her right glove came back red, "Is your arm painful?"

"Not painful, but felt like I could have a bruise there…" Luca admitted and twisted his arm in an attempt to look at the cut.

"Can I take a look at it?" Jennifer asked as she gently guided his arm in a different direction than Luca had planned.

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay, it's a small nick, doesn't look too deep, but you might end up with a stitch or three."

"Alright, that's not bad…" Luca nodded.

Jennifer nodded and discarded the bloody glove and put on a new one, before she continued to pat Luca down. She went on to his chest, checking that his right and left side moved equally and wasn't painful to touch.

"Hey, could you skip doing that to my hips?" Luca asked as she went closer to his abdomen.

"Promise I won't jostle you around, but I have to check it out."

Luca nodded a little as she proceeded to press down on his belly, and poke her hands under his sides, checking for injuries.

Then she paused and stepped around to his right side again, "I'm going to check your pelvis, then I can check your right leg first. Okay?"

Luca nodded, swallowing thickly.

She carefully checked his pelvis, apologizing when she saw Luca's grimace. "How did that feel?"

"Mostly like you pressed down on a massive bruise on my left side."

"Okay, but did your pelvis feel alright apart from that?"

"I guess." Luca shrugged a little.

"Good, because it felt stabile."

"-And broken pelvises are bad news…" Luca shrugged.

Jennifer nodded a little, "It certainly complicates everything a little."

She then went on to pat down his right leg, before crossing over to do the same with his left.

She tried to do it with featherlight hands, but Luca still practically howled as she began with his left hip.

"Sorry!" she offered up sincerely, as she continued down his leg, avoiding to put pressure on his offset kneecap.

"It's fine…" Luca managed to bite out when she reached his left ankle, "Just hurts."

She pulled one corner of her lip up in a motherly, 'I know, hun,' smile and nodded, "Alright, I just need to go get something in the truck. You try to relax in the meanwhile."

The guys nodded, and the paramedic headed back to the ambulance.

"Ey, Joey! Bring two blankets and cravats!" she pretty much barked at her partner, "I'll grab the scoop!"

Her partner nodded and found what she had ordered.

A few moments later they were both back with Luca.

After he had introduced himself to Luca, Joey looked over at Jennifer, "Okay, so… What do we know?"

"Presenting with signs of hip fracture, possible FCF. -And dislocated kneecap of the same leg."

"Can you support his pelvis, while I remove his shoes and start splinting?"

"Of course." Jennifer nodded and rearranged herself so that she would get a better work-angle. Then she slipped her hands down by Luca's waist before carefully moving her hands down to support his pelvis. "Let me know if this hurts, Luca…"

"Nah, so far, so good." Luca replied.

"Luca, you've got a pretty girl touching your hips, I'd think you be happier about it than this…" Chris teased, hoping it would be enough to relax her friend a little from his tense state.

It worked a little, and caused Luca to chuckle a little. "Well, under different, -less painful-, circumstances I'm sure I would be ecstatic… Okay?"

Joey unlaced both of Luca's boots, the left one more carefully than the right, and slipped them off. He heard Luca's breath hitch and morph over to a groan as he slipped the left one off, and apologized for causing pain. He then quickly checked for pulse as well, and found it easily.

"Don't worry 'bout it." Luca gritted out a few seconds later, "I really don't think you could've done it more carefully."

"Well, I'm sorry anyway…" Joey explained as he started slipping the cravats under Luca's knees. Tugging three of the rags upwards, one all the way up to right above Luca's hips, one rag just below his hips and one a bit above his knees. The two other rags he tugged down, one by Luca's ankles the other one below his knees.

Jennifer chuckled a bit, "How are you holding up?"

"Been better." Luca admitted.

Joey re-folded the first woolen blanket into a more ideal shape. "Alright Luca, you're not going to be the biggest fan of this next part."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I need to put this folded blanket between your legs, as far up as possible." Joey explained, "It'll probably hurt when I do so, but it's going to help stabilize your hip."

Luca nodded, and prepared for the pain.

Joey placed the first blanket all the way up to Luca's crotch, jostling his leg just enough to cause the man to growl.

"Sorry…"

Luca waved it all away.

Joey then placed the second blanket below Luca's knees.

"Alright, I'm going to bring your right leg towards your left leg now. Then I'm going to start tying your legs together."

Luca nodded, and Joey started moving his leg towards the other one. He managed to get the legs next to each other without pulling more than a grimace from Luca. Then he trapped Luca's feet between his knees and tied the cravat around his ankles, before he also tied Luca's feet up.

"How are you feeling?"

"It hurts." Luca admitted, folding his hands and propped his hands behind his head.

"Any dizziness? Nausea?"

"No…" Luca shook his head, "Not yet."

"Alright." Joey nodded and started tightening up the second cravat, the one below Luca's knees.

That one made Luca cringe hard.

"Did that one hurt your knee or your hip?"

"Knee." Luca inhaled sharply, "Hip."

"Both?"

Luca nodded.

Joey stared at Luca's knee for a second, "I'm going to loosen this one up a bit and find something to use as a pad under the cravat."

Luca nodded, and gasped sharply as Joey tied open the second cravat.

**SWATSWATSWAT**

Joey came back a short moment later with a pillow. "Let's hope this helps a little…"

He placed the pillow against the outside of Luca's thigh and wrapped the cravat over it and tightened it again.

"How's that?"

"Better."

"Good." Joey nodded and started to tighten the rag above Luca's hip, keeping the rag over the pillow as well, "How's that?"

Luca nodded, "Alright."

Joey tightened second to last cravat and apologized as Luca let out a guttural growl. "Just one more left."

Luca nodded.

"You're starting to look a bit pale," Street commented, "How are you feeling, buddy?"

"Hurts."

Jennifer twisted around to look at Luca directly, "Are you feeling faint? Nauseous?"

Luca nodded.

Joey cast a look up at Luca, "Sorry, just the last rag now."

Luca nodded.

Joey made sure the last cravat wasn't too rolled and would distribute the pressure as evenly as possible. He tightened it, and Luca gasped, automatically reaching for his hip.

Jennifer released Luca's pelvis and went to check his pulse. She gave it ten seconds before she relaxed her shoulders, but kept her fingers on his pulse for another twenty.

Luca started to relax mode and more, and a bit of color started to reappear on his face.

Joey placed one part of the scoop stretcher along Luca's right side, pressing it under him. Then he placed the other part on his other side and clicked stretcher back together, first at Luca's head, then he had Jennifer and Hondo roll Luca gently onto his side so that he wouldn't pinch him when he locked the foot part together.

"Alright, who wants to volunteer to help us get him onto the real gurney?" Jennifer asked, and everyone from the S.W.A.T team stepped forward.

"Alright, grab onto the stretcher, lift on my command." Jennifer ordered, and the guys and Chris crowded the stretcher.

"Alright, you in the middle of the left side…" Jennifer nodded towards Deacon, "Can you go and make sure the breaks are on the gurney instead? It's going to be too crowded on that side if you stay where you are."

Deacon nodded and removed himself from his position at the stretcher.

"Alright, ready to lift?"

The others nodded.

"One. Two. Three, lift!"

The lift and transfer to the gurney went without incident, and they unclipped and removed the scoop stretcher again.

"How are you feeling now?" Jennifer asked as she started strapping him in on the stretcher.

"Still a bit out of it…" Luca admitted, "But I don't feel like passing out anymore."

"That's good." Jennifer nodded, "You look a bit better as well, not as pale."

Luca nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

He was transferred over to a hospital bed in the emergency department.

Two nurses tag-teamed to check on him.

They introduced themselves to him and explained that they were going to go run through a few tests on him, and he nodded and introduced himself to them.

One of them looked at his hands and smiled, "Oh, I just adore Jenny… She always remember to put in two neat and juicy I.V. lines…"

Luca smiled, "Yeah, she was really good at that stuff. I certainly couldn't have done that in a moving vehicle, while having 50 other tasks to do as well…"

"Nah, she's one of our faves." the nurse to his right nodded.

"Airways are good." The nurse on his left smiled and picked up a stethoscope, "Now, I'm just going to listen to your chest and abdomen for a bit, alright?"

The other one placed an oximeter on his right index finger.

Luca nodded.

"Okay, can you take a deep breath and hold it for a second before letting it out?" the nurse on his left asked.

He did.

She nodded and moved the end of the stethoscope, "Again…"

He repeated.

"Okay, that's good." she nodded and move the stethoscope again, "Just going to listen to your heart for a bit, then to your abdomen."

Luca nodded.

She continued moving the stethoscope around until the other nurse butted in, "16 respirations per minute. Equal frequency and depth. Does not use accessory muscles. No stridor. SpO2 98%, no signs of cyanosis."

Luca smirked, he honestly hadn't noticed the other one focusing on him.

"Side-equal sounds upon auscultation." the one on the left nodded, and the one of the right jotted something down on a sheet of paper.

Then the one on the left pressed down on various places on his abdomen, asking if there was any extra discomfort while she did so.

The answer was no. She seemed satisfied with that answer. That nurse nodded to the other one, who wrote it down on her paper.

"I'm just going to feel your neck for a second."

Luca nodded.

"Trachea is midline." she announced and moved her hand away, "Breathing is sufficient."

"You're a bit pale, and you feel a bit clammy." the nurse on his right noted and he looked at her.

"Yeah, sorry. Got injured at work. Was sweating a lot at the moment this happened."

She nodded.

"And my leg hurts beyond belief," he continued, "I tend to turn pale pretty easily when I'm in pain…"

She nodded some more. "Yeah, some people are built like that... I'm just going to press down on your chest for a little, to see how long it takes for the small blood vessels in your skin to fill back up, alright?"

Luca nodded.

"CRT is right under 3 seconds." the nurse on his right said, before writing it down.

The nurse on his left then secured a blood pressure cuff around his arm, and announced that she would measure his blood pressure. "Do you know if you have elevated, normal or low blood pressure normally?"

"Pretty normal." Luca answered, "Last mandatory checkup I had a BP of 123 over 65."

"Those are pretty great numbers."

"On the way in here I was at 116 over 79."

The nurse nodded. She started checking it manually, so Luca decided it was time to shut up once again to give the nurse some quiet while she worked.

She pumped the cuff up three times and listened as she released the air from the cuff. Meanwhile the other nurse had her fingers on the pulse on his wrist.

"BP 116 over 83" The nurse on the left noted, and the one on the right wrote it down.

"Heartrate of 86. Frequency good. A little weak." The nurse on the right informed the other one, and wrote down her own findings as well.

"Okay skin temperature, a little pale, a little clammy."

Luca knew what all that was signs of. He was bleeding a bit. Not alarmingly much yet, he would have felt much worse then, but he was almost certain that a bag of A positive was in his future.

"Circulation is sufficient." The nurse on the left said. The 'for now' hung in the air.

"A on the ACVPU." The one on the right said as she wrote it down, and the other one pulled out a pen light.

"PEARL is okay."

The one on the right marked that down. "And 15 on the GCS."

"Yeah," the one on the left agreed, before looking down at him, "Can you move one of your arms a bit for me?"

Luca did.

"Yeah, 15."

Luca smirked.

"Do you have any blood sugar related illnesses?"

"Nope."

"Okay, that's good." The nurse on the right nodded, "But I hope you don't mind us checking it anyways."

"Do what you must." Luca nodded, presenting his hand to her.

She cleaned off his finger, prepped the scanner and the lancet. Donned her gloves. "Okay, slight sting."

He nodded and she pressed the spring.

She wiped off the first tiny blood drop, and let a second one form on its own, before she let the strip soak it up. Then she placed the monitor down and handed him a cotton ball.

"127,8 mg/dL." She announced as she wrote it down.

"Isn't that really high?" Luca couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Have you fasted since yesterday?"

"No."

"When was the last thing you ate, and what was it?"

"We had a big breakfast today. Pancakes, eggs and bacon." Luca thought back, "Maple syrup, milk and coffee."

"And when was this?"

"Around 7," he shrugged, "Two and a half hours ago… -And then I had some juice, an apple and one of those small packs of raisins on the way out to the job. That's like an hour ago or so…"

"Then I wouldn't consider your blood sugar abnormally high." The nurse winked, "You're not fasting, and semi recently ate a big meal. Under 140 would be okay just on those premises. Besides physical stress, like a hip injury, can cause glucose levels to rise."

"I've always heard it should be between 72 and 108…" Luca shrugged.

"Fasting, for non-diabetics, normal values are between 70 and 110…" the nurse nodded, "But we just cleared up that you're not exactly fasting."

Luca nodded a little.

"Now," the nurse on his left started, "On a scale from 1 to 10… Where 1 is no pain, and 10 is worst im-"

"6…" Luca beat her to it, "6 when I'm laying completely still and don't have pressure on or near my hip. Spikes up to 9, maybe 9,5 if my hip or knee gets jostled. Actually, make that a 4 on the laying still part. Meds have started to kick in. Haven't been jostled around since. Not sure about the second number."

"You've done this before…" the nurse smirked, "And it shows."

Luca shrugged a little as the nurse on the right made her notes.

"Disability is sufficient." the nurse on the left noted, the one on the right nodded.

The nurse on the right went away for a moment and came back with a wash bowl and some hospital clothes. "Okay then we have to do a visual exam of you, and we need to get you into some more practical clothes."

Luca nodded, slightly terrified from the idea of taking off his pants or putting on new underwear. -Or simply even having the splint removed.

"Let's start with your shirt…" the nurse said, and both the nurses donned their gloves. Then she told him to just relax when he started tugging his shirt upward.

The two nurses reached behind his back and pulled the shirt up behind his back and over his head.

He smiled, "Okay, that was prolly easier…"

The nurse on the left nodded, "It usually is…"

"That's a pretty nasty bruise you have there…" the nurse on the right said and pointed to his right shoulder.

"Yeah, three days old. Nothing to bother about…" Luca nodded.

"How'd you get it?"

"Sparring with one of my colleagues." Luca answered, "She got in a real high roundhouse kick on me."

"I'm impressed." the nurse on the left nodded.

Luca nodded, "She's one of the best fighters I know."

The nurse on the right walked away and filled up the water bowl. When she came back, she grabbed the cloth laying over the hospital gown. "Want to wipe your face a little on your own?"

Luca nodded and took the rag. Then he wiped his face and neck. Then he handed it back to the nurse, who dipped the cloth back in the water and wrung it up. Then handed it back to Luca.

Luca wiped over his chest, abdomen and under his arms. Then gave the cloth back to the nurse to rinse it.

Next time he got it he wiped down his arms, being careful with the butterfly strips over the cut on his arm.

Then he handed the rag back to the nurse. She wrung it up. "Just let us help you sit up a bit so that we can wipe down your back."

Luca nodded and let the women lift him a bit up.

Luca's breath hitched.

"How's your pain?"

"7,8…" Luca admitted.

And the nurses laid him back down after they were done washing his back.

Then they draped the hospital gown over his arms and down to his waist.

"Do you want us to cut your pants and underwear off, or do you want us to try to peel them off you?"

"Just cut them." Luca shrugged, "My pants are already cut up, and my work paid for them anyway…"

The nurse on the right nodded, then looked at the other nurse, "You start untying the cravats, I'll go find some more morphine for this guy."

"Nah, I don't need it…" Luca shook his head.

"You'll probably be begging for it in a minute or so…" the nurse on the left shot in, "We will jostle you a bit now."

"Alright, okay…" Luca nodded.

The nurse on the right nodded and went off to find a syringe.

**SWATSWATSWAT**

The new shot hadn't kicked in when they started taking off his pants. And yeah, if he hadn't already gotten the extra shot, he would have been begging for it.

They had tied his legs loose from each other, and were in the middle of clipping his pants off. He breathed hard as he tried to remain in the same position he had been laying in the whole time.

When they had clipped the entire length of both his pantlegs, the one on the left stabilized his thigh and hips, while the other one gently tugged the pants and underwear out from under him.

"Would you want to wash yourself, or?"

Luca shook his head, beads of sweat was forming at his forehead.

"Okay, I wash, you check his hip and knee closer." The one on the right said to the one on the left, and started to wash his privates. Wrung the cloth up after dipping it in the water again, and washed his right thigh, then his left thigh.

Rinse and wring out, and then she washed his legs, before she finished off washing his feet.

Then she requested the help of the other nurse to get the mesh underwear on him. They stopped when the underwear was sorta up, but still had a few inches left before being fully up. The nurse on the left picked up a pack of what could be best described as medical-grade babywipes, and placed them within reach, then the nurse on the right placed thick pillows between his legs.

"Alright, we're going to turn you towards me, so that Alexandra can wash your seat, and take your temperature." she explained it very slowly, as if that would help him understand that refusing wasn't an option.

He managed not to cry out when he was rolled over, he didn't flinch as the thermometer entered or was removed a few seconds later. And the washing was actually kind of nice. Very unusual, but also kind of nice.

Then the nurses spoke between themselves, Luca didn't really follow any more. Between the pain and the way his mind floated from the opiates in his system, it wasn't easy.

He barely noticed the new underwear was pulled all the way up in the back, and that the nurses said they would let him lay back down. He only let out a displeased grunt as something in his hip seared. He didn't notice the glove changes, or most of the other small talk between the nurses. Barely heard something about exposure and enviroment, he didn't catch what it was.

One of the nurses checked his pulse again, on his foot and behind his ankle. "All good."

The other one explained that she would check his blood pressure again. He barely paid it any attention.

The nurse on the right was suddenly above him, talking directly to him. And he had to fight to focus. "How are you feeling?"

Luca actually had to think.

Tired? Nauseous? In pain? Dizzy?

"I don't know…"

An amused smirk crept onto her lips, "You're not exactly a heavyweight when it comes to drugs, are you?"

He shook his head. He could drink like most the other guys on the team, but drugs noticeably stronger than over the counter painkillers had a way of getting to him.

"How's your pain?"

He lazily held up two fingers.

"A 2?"

He nodded.

"And when we jostled you around?"

"Five…" he shrugged, "I'm tired…"

The nurse nodded, "Try to rest some, we'll look after you."

He nodded lazily.


	3. Chapter 3

The fog started to clear a bit as the morphine started to leave his body. He opened his eyes and glanced around. He wasn't in the same room as before, this one looked more like those hospital rooms you stay in for a few days when you're actually admitted to the hospital.

He looked up, following the plastic tubes that went up to plastic bags hanging above him.

The smaller bag was marked with 'A Rh POSITIVE', and was nearly empty. The line with the blood went down to his right hand.

The other bag was marked PlasmaLyte or something along those lines. Luca never really trusted himself with words he wasn't familiar with, especially technical or science-y words. But plasma made sense because of the blood thing named plasma, the 'lyte' part was more confusing to him though. Or, maybe it wasn't designed to make sense? Who knew?

The line with the clear liquid trailed down to his left hand.

He looked around again, and found the call cord. Activated it.

A little while later a nurse entered his room.

"Hello. How are you feeling?"

Luca shrugged, "In some pain, and a bit woozy…"

She nodded.

"How long have I been here?"

"On this ward? About an hour…" the nurse said, looking down at the watch hanging from her uniform. Then she stepped over next to his bed, "I'm Jasmyn, by the way, I'm your nurse today."

"Luca…" he replied and shook her hand, "So, what's happening with my leg?"

"Well, you broke your hip, the upper part of the femur which goes towards your hip socket." Jasmyn explained as she tried to explain it with her hands as well, "And you dislocated your kneecap."

"Figured that much…" Luca nodded, offering up what he thought would be a smirk, "I'm meaning, am I going to have surgery or not? -Or have I already had?"

Jasmyn chuckled a little, "You haven't had surgery, yet. But you are scheduled for one."

"Alright." Luca nodded, then he looked up at the bag with the clear liquid, "Can you please tell me what that thing is called, -and what it does?"

"PlasmaLyte? It's written on the bag." She smiled, "It's used to replace loss of fluids. The doctors often orders it up for patients who has for instance broken bones, been through operations, burns, head injuries, infections. Pretty much fancy saline drip…"

Luca chuckled, "Fancy saline drip, funny."

"It has a bit extra electrolytes and minerals. -And some sugar too I think."

Luca nodded, "Did they set my kneecap?"

Jasmyn tilted her head from side to side, "The orthopedic surgeon did when you were fairly heavy sedated earlier, but he thinks you might need surgery to replace your medial patellofemoral ligament later. He checked to see how stabile it was once it was set, and he said it probably wouldn't stay put if you bumped your knee properly, or placed your weight odd."

Luca nodded. "Is that something that can be fixed now, or does it have to wait until my hip is better?"

"It varies from case to case, and the surgeon didn't mention what would be the case for you yet." the nurse explained.

Luca nodded, "Do you know when I'll have surgery?"

"You're scheduled for surgery this afternoon." she answered, "Currently you're first in line."

"Cool…" Luca nodded, "Is it alright if I just try to sleep until then?"

The nurse nodded, "That should be alright…"

"Alright. Nice."


	4. Chapter 4

Luca woke up a few hours later when someone knocked at the door, and Deacon walked in.

"Hey man, how are you?"

Luca blinked awake. Then looked at his colleague. "Heeeey, Deac!"

Deacon chuckled, "I see they hooked you up with the good drugs…"

Luca chuckled, "Nah… They hooked me up with some good drugs, but not THAT good."

Deacon chuckled, "So, how are you?"

"I'm looking forward to being back on the squad." Luca shrugged, "And walking."

Deacon nodded.

"How's the rest of the team?"

"Worried about you." Deacon shrugged, "The others really wanted to come, but we didn't know if you were in surgery or available. So we figured we rather should meet up here tomorrow."

Luca nodded, smiled. "And you stopped by on your way home?"

Deacon nodded, "Had to make sure you were alright."

"Thanks." Luca grinned.

"Are they going to fix your leg today or tomorrow?"

"Today, unless there's a major accident somewhere with many people who needs emergency surgery…"

"That's good." Deacon nodded, then he unshouldered his bag, before he pulled out a few sweets and treats, "I brought you some snacks, but I guess you'll have to wait until after the surgery."

"Aw, SWEET!" Luca grinned.

Deacon nodded, "I'm just going to place them here on the table, out of your reach, just to be safe."

Luca nodded, "Smart move."

Then someone knocked on the door, and the nurse came back in. "Hi there, you must be…"

"Deacon, coworker." Deacon answered, hand greeting her.

"Is it surgery time soon?" Luca asked.

The nurse looked from Luca to Deacon, and back to Luca again. Not really sure if she could answer.

"Deac's pretty much my brother, I don't mind him hearing."

"Alright, then yeah. In about an hour. I'm here to give you your premedication."

Luca nodded.

"Alright, I guess that's my cue to go…" Deacon winked, "Good luck buddy, see you tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"No butterflies, alright?"

Luca chuckled, "Sorry Deacon, don't have control over those bastards…"

"You'll be fine." Deacon nodded, "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Say hi to Annie from me…"

Deacon nodded, then he headed out the door. "Bye!"

"Bye!"

**SWATSWATSWAT**

Some hours later, Luca was waking up from surgery

He woke up in a room with six or seven other hospital beds and about as many nurses. He was hooked up to a monitor which tracked his heartrate, blood pressure, and a number of other things.

He wasn't entirely lucid yet, he was pretty sure he zoned out a bunch of times.

**SWATSWATSWAT**

All of the sudden, the next time he woke up he was back in a similar room as earlier, except for it being a two-bed room. Which he was the lone resident of so far.

He lifted the covers to check his legs. He had a 4x10 dressing near his hip, and a 4x4 dressing sitting with one corner as a peak towards his thigh, and the opposite corner pointing towards his foot, in order to make use of Pythagoras theorem to make the smaller dressing stretch further vertically.

The dressings had a honeycomb pattern. The one at his hip had a three inch blood rose, but the one at his knee seemed all dry. He also had a brace around his leg, locked straight.

His leg was swollen, both his hip and his knee. But that came with the territory of a broken hip and a dislocated kneecap, and following surgery. He didn't really feel anything yet, which he guessed was a blessing.

He moved his feet a little, and was fascinated when they moved, yet didn't hurt.

Satisfied with the condition of his leg, he remembered how hungry and thirsty he was and found the call button. It didn't take long before a nurse entered his room.

"Good evening…" she smiled, "How are you feeling?"

Luca shrugged, "I feel fine. A bit hungry."

"Yeah?"

Luca nodded.

"What would you like to eat? We've got slices of bread, cheese, ham, boiled eggs, strawberry jam, grape jelly, some smoothie the kitchen sent up to us… Yogurt. Granola. Probably forgot something…" she admitted with a slight blush, "And we've got coffee, tea, milk, apple- and orange juice… Water…"

Luca grinned, "Well, a good cup of coffee would be awesome. And two slices of bread, an egg, some cheese and ham, -and apple juice please…"

The nurse nodded, "I'll be back in a few then. -Are you in any pain right now?"

"None." Luca shook his head, "Don't even feel banged up."

The nurse nodded, "Well, that's the epidural doing it's magic I guess."

Luca blinked almost dumbfounded for a second, then he looked around and saw a plastic box with buttons and a screen reading 6ml/hour, and a 60ml syringe. Then he followed the plastic tube running from the box and down to a weird connector thing taped near his clavicle.

"That's the pump which makes sure you don't run out of epidural pain relief." The nurse nodded.

"-But… -I could move my feet…"

The nurse nodded, "Yeah. You have an epidural catheter which only gives a sensory blockade. Fun fact, you wouldn't notice if I held an ice cube against the skin on your legs."

"Really?"

The nurse nodded, "That's often how they check if it works pre-op, if it's an elective surgery without pain prior to the start of the surgery."

"Cool!" Luca grinned, "Got any more fun facts?"

The nurse nodded, "I'll go find you some food first, -I'll try to think of another medial fun fact."

"Thanks…"

**SWATSWATSWAT**

"Adults have fewer bones than babies…" she said as she stepped back into Luca's room with a tray of food, coffee and juice.

"That's cause they fuse together, right?" Luca asked.

"Correct." She nodded. "Here's another one for you… The reason your nose starts running when you're crying, is because there's a little duct running from the corner of your eye and into your nose."

"That one I didn't know…" Luca grinned.

"I've got one pretty morbid one as well."

"Yeah? Do tell!"

"There goes 34 eyeballs in a kilo."

"That's oddly specific…" Luca frowned, but his curiosity piqued, "How many in a pound?"

"Heck if I know…" the nurse chuckled and placed the tray down at Luca's nightstand, "It was a question in a game called 'Idiot knowledge', if you translate it, or something like that. We played that game a lot last time I visited my extended family in Norway."

"So you're Norwegian?"

"Part Norwegian…" the nurse nodded, "About ¼…"

Luca nodded.

"So, are you looking forward to test how it'll be to stand and walk a bit tomorrow?"

Luca downed a gulp of coffee before he answered, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. This was really good coffee!"

The nurse nodded, "Figured you had earned yourself some of our breakroom coffee, instead of the unbearable crap in the instant machine…"

"Thank you!"

"Alright, I'll let you eat in peace, if you need anything, you know where the call button is."

Luca nodded, and nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning he was woken by the nice nurse who had taken care of him the day before the surgery.

"Good morning Luca, mind if I switch the lights on?"

He yawned awake, "Yeah, go ahead."

"How was your night?"

Luca stretched his back, "Actually, one of the best I've had in a long time."

"That's good." Jasmyn grinned, "Any pain?"

"Nah, I think the painkiller I got late last night is still working." Luca tilted his head from side to side, as if contemplating whether that was true or not, "It's not a 100 percent like the epidural thing, but it does the job."

Jasmyn nodded, "Yeah, the pill you got at 10p.m. is usually good for 12 hours. But you feel like the dosage is adequate? Or are you toughing it because you're a big, tough, SWAT guy?"

Luca chuckled, "Nah, laying still this is pretty much eliminating my pain."

"Have you tried moving around a little?"

"Not exactly tried, but I 'forgot' that my hip and knee went through, and I shifted and…" Luca trailed off a bit, "Let's just say that I might need something more before attempting to hobble around."

Jasmyn nodded, "Alright, then I'll make sure you get some extra before the physio gets here."

"Thanks."

Jasmyn lifted the pre-prepared wash bowl off the shelf, took the washcloth and towel and fresh set of mesh underwear and placed it on a free spot on the nightstand, before filling the bowl with warm water. "I bet you want to wash up a bit?"

Luca nodded, then remembered that she had her back turned towards him, "Yeah, I think I've got like four pounds of sleep-sand in my eyes."

Jasmyn chuckled as she turned off the water and lifted the wash bowl over to the nightstand.

Luca sat up and his breath hitched.

"Okay, that hurt?"

"-Not bad."

Jasmyn was obviously not convinced, "You just went a shade paler."

"Well, it's already passing." Luca shrugged, and grabbed the washcloth and dunked it in the water.

Jasmyn nodded, still not convinced. Then she reached for the remote to adjust the back of the bed so that Luca could lean against it.

Luca washed the parts of his upper body he could reach on his own, then he handed the washcloth to Jasmyn who washed his back.

"Could you scrub a bit harder over the…" Luca sighed, "over the… The spine thing…"

"The bandage covering where the epidural catheter goes in?"

"Yes!" Luca nodded.

"Is it itchy?"

Luca nodded again, "Just where the bandage is."

Jasmyn nodded and rubbed over the bandage.

"Thank you."

"Do you feel itchy anywhere else?"

Luca shook his head, "Nah, just there…"

Jasmyn nodded and dried off Luca's back, rubbing extra hard around where the epidural went in, but not directly on top of it. "So, would you like to wear your own clothes or this neat hospital gown?"

"Nah, I think I should try to get back to normal as soon as possible." Luca smirked, "One of my friends brought me a bag of extra clothes yesterday. It should be in a gym bag in the closet."

Jasmyn nodded and opened the closet and took out the bag, then handed it to Luca. Luca took out a t-shirt and a baggy pair of sweatpants.

"That should do…" Luca nodded, "I don't think tighter fitting pants would be an option right now…"

Jasmyn nodded, "It's often easier to just opt for what you know will work at first instead of trying to force something."

Luca chuckled, "Yet, sometimes the only way past is through…"

The nurse nodded, "Got a few good examples of that, or?"

"Nah, just some crappy ones."

"Alright?"

"Been roughed up a few times through my years in SWAT, this being the latest." Luca shrugged, "Plus I didn't really learn to read properly before I was in high school or something."

"You couldn't?"

"Well, I could, really badly." Luca shrugged as he put on his t-shirt, "More like I was reading like a 2nd or 3rd grader by the time I was in 9th grade. Dyslexia. Finally got some good help."

Jasmyn nodded, "And how are you doing now?"

"Better, still hate to read out loud for people." Luca shrugged, "And I think people don't exactly enjoy listening to me reading either."

Jasmyn chuckled, "My sister has dyslexia. Seemed like we had world war 3 going every time it was homework time…"

Luca chuckled, "Well, mom just gave up helping me in second grade. It seemed like the best thing for all of us. She helped my brother though… Maybe because he never screamed bloody murder or anything because he had to read something out loud."

Jasmyn nodded, "Well, that might be the reason she treated you two different."

Luca nodded, "Yeah, that was definitely the reason."

After he had cleaned up as well as possible with a wash cloth and a water bowl, he had Jasmyn help him get the sweatpants on his left leg.

He knew he could have done it almost just as easily on his own, but she offered and he was grateful.


	6. Chapter 6

"Alright, let's try to get you upright for a little spell…" the physiotherapist named John said as he placed the walker closer to the bed.

Luca nodded, he knew it was necessary to get back on his feet as soon as possible. That was a lesson he had learned repeatedly ever since some doctor had figured out that it wasn't beneficial to just lay around until sprains hurt less, or fractures grew back. He didn't know exactly when the negative effects of bedrest had been discovered or linked to slower healing and greater chances of complications, but he knew his doctors, and nurses had become increasingly more persistent since the mid to late 90's.

That being said, he never felt quite ready to up for the first time after surgeries.

"Let's take this slow and you let me know if you start feeling light-headed or need to sit down." John said, and Luca agreed, "Can you sit up and lift your leg towards the edge of the bed? Help with your hands."

Luca nodded and grabbed the brace around his leg. The epidural had been switched off since last night, so the only thing offering him pain relief was the pills. But he figured he was as well relieved from pain as could be without starting to get dizzy or unsteady.

"How does it feel?"

"Alright…" Luca answered with a slight grimace, "Can't expect to be completely pain free, can I?"

John shook his head, "No, that's very rare considering the amount of damage you managed to land yourself."

Luca nodded.

Once Luca had his foot right next to the edge, John asked if he needed help guiding his leg down towards the floor. Luca shook his head.

"Okay, once you're seated on the edge of the bed, you take a short break just to make sure you're not dizzy or anything."

Luca nodded, and took a few seconds to collect himself.

The physiotherapist placed the walker in front of Luca.

"Do I really have to mess around with that thing?" Luca asked as he tapped two fingers to the walker, "Can't I just use crutches?"

"We take a test run with the walker first." John replied, leaving no room for discussion, "If I see that you're not wobbling or in too much pain we'll move you onto crutches."

Luca scrounged up his nose, but nodded. "I just don't like those walker things."

"Yeah? Any specific reason for that?"

"Just feel more comfortable with crutches." Luca shrugged, then placed one hand where his hand would naturally go when he was standing up, and the other one to push off the bed he was now sitting on.

"So this definitely isn't your first time meeting a walker then?"

"No. I think the first time I ever used one was when I was ten or something. Broke my leg after being hit by a car while riding my bike."

"Ouch…"

Luca nodded before he stood up, grimacing slightly before he offered up a slightly cautious smile. "Was in traction for the first three weeks. Then I got a cast and was allowed to hobble around, but for some reason I think they made me use a walker for like 10 days until they figured my balance or something was good enough to try out crutches. -Which I found 10 times easier by the way."

John chuckled.

"My brother and I had played around with our dad's crutches a few times though, so that experience probably helped." Luca chuckled.

John nodded, "Okay, whenever you're ready place the walker a few inches in front of you, then follow it."

Luca nodded, "No weight on my left leg, right?"

"No, you can put as much weight on it as you can manage. You just can't bend your knee." the physiotherapist corrected, and Luca lifted the walker forward then braced his shoulders and stepped forward. The grimace on Luca's face told John that the man ought to lift more of his weight than on the first attempt, which he commented out loud.

After a few steps he paused and looked over at John, "How many more steps before I can switch to crutches?"

"How are you feeling?" John asked, "Any dizziness? Feeling of weakness?"

"Good, and nope." Luca shook his head, "There's some pain, but I can't expect anything else."

The physiotherapist nodded, "Well, you're moving like a pro… If you can hobble out to the door of the first restroom in the hallway, then I'll trade your walker with crutches and we'll see how it goes."

Luca nodded, "I have to turn left when I reach the hallway then?"

"No, right."

"Alright." Luca nodded.

SWATSWATSWAT

Once he reached the door he placed all of his weight on his hands and dangled like he was about to do dips. He wouldn't be able to actually do the exercise, due to the straight locked leg. Then he locked eyes with John, "Do I get the crutches now?"

John nodded, and told Luca to take a seat in one of the chairs in the hallway while he went to fetch some crutches.

SWATSWATSWAT

A few minutes later John returned with the crutches, and had Luca stand up using the crutches. "Let's see if you're a pro on crutches as well…"

Luca chuckled.

A few minutes later John nodded to himself, "Still no dizziness or feeling of weakness?"

"None."

"Alright." John grinned, "Then I'll let your nurse know that you're ready for using crutches only. And later today I'll decide if you're ready for moving around without supervision. Okay?"

"So I'm not allowed that yet?"

"Not quite yet." John answered, "Maybe later today, if you still move with the same ease and steadiness."

Luca nodded.

"So for now, if you want to up and walk around a bit, you push the call button." John informed.

Luca nodded.

"Do you feel like going back to your bed, or to the common room?"

"Is there something I can prop my legs up on there?"

"Yeah, there is." John nodded.

"And other people?"

"Usually."

"Okay, common room." Luca decided.

"Okay, end of the hallway then."

Luca nodded and started hobbling in the direction.


End file.
